Alert after cops bust honey-trap

Three members of the gang after their arrest on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Jan. 27: City police today alerted residents against criminals using women to trap the rich and young to extort money.

The warning comes after the police arrested five persons, including a woman, from Cachar, Karimganj and Nagaon districts, who had trapped a city-based hotel owner’s son and claimed Rs 50 lakh from his family recently.

According to the police, the gang had used a 25-year-old woman, Tamanna Nath, to lure the youth.

Tamanna had befriended the hotel-owner’s son over phone and called him to a resort at Sonapur on the city outskirts on November 18 and kidnapped him.

Tamanna and four others had taken the youth to Nagaon and kept him hostage till December 6.

The four other gang members were identified as Bapon Nath, Aftabuddin, Riyazuddin Ali and Mohammand Jamiruddin.

Tamanna is Bapon’s wife and the couple reside at Baruala village in Cachar district.

Aftabuddin and Riyazuddin Ali hail from Karimganj district while Jamiruddin is a resident of Dakkhin Somoria in Nagaon district.

Senior superintendent of police (city) Anand Prakash Tiwari today said a few others associated with the gang, who had earlier trapped the rich and young in Shillong, are still at large.

“We want to appeal to the city residents to act cautiously if they get calls from anonymous women. Criminals can target the young and use women to trap them. In this particular case, Tamanna had collected the youth’s number and targeted him as he is rich and fond of going to parties,” Tiwari said.

The police, however, did not disclose the name of the youth and the hotel.

The youth’s family had lodged a missing complaint with Paltan Bazar police station on November 19.

However, on December 6, they informed the police that he had returned home safely.

“During investigation of the missing complaint, our crime branch came across come clues that pointed to a case of abduction. Soon we came to know that the family had paid ransom to the criminals and did not inform us. Accordingly, we registered a case on January 23, started investigation and arrested the five in the past three days,” Tiwari said.

The police also suspect that a member of the staff of the hotel at Paltan Bazar had allegedly tipped off the criminals about the boy’s financial condition.

All five were brought to the city today and were produced in court, which remanded th-em in six days’ police custody.

“After six days, we will seek further custody to aid our efforts to apprehend other criminals who are also associated with the gang,” Tiwari said.

Sources in the crime branch said the couple, Tamanna and Bapon, had property worth over Rs 10 crore and lived a luxurious life.